Axl Rose Sends DMCA Request To Take Down Unflattering Photo

There’s a saying when you’re driving in icy or slippery conditions, that if you start to lose control of your vehicle, you should steer into the skid. Doing so helps you right the ship, so to speak, and prevent further damage to you, or your vehicle. That saying should probably be applied to celebrities who attempt to have photos of themselves removed from the internet. No matter how bad the photo is, you’ll draw more attention to yourself in trying to have it removed than you would by just letting whatever attention the photo has already received run its course. Axl Rose is the latest to attempt to have an unflattering photo of himself removed from the internet, and he’s filed DMCA requests with Google in order to have an offending photo removed.

This photo was taken by photographer Boris Minkevich of the Winnipeg Free Press at a 2010 Guns N Roses concert. The photo above, as well as quite a few more excellently taken photographs can be found in the original article. Axl isn’t quite as rockstar thin as he was in the late 80’s, but it’s only natural for most humans to gain some weight as they age, you know, metabolism slowing down and all that jazz.

The internet being the internet, the photo was turned into a bit of a meme, with a close cropped shot of Axl’s face superimposed with edited GNR lyrics talking about food… “Sweet Pie of Mine,” “Welcome to McDonalds,” you get the idea. What’s a rock star to do when faced with this situation? If you said “steer into the skid,” or maybe just “Don’t Cry,” and have a little “Patience” you’d be right, but that’s obviously not what actually happened.

Image Courtesy of Torrent Freak

Several of the same sort of request were filed for the same picture across several different sites. The claim, filed by Web Sherriff on behalf of Axl Rose states:

Copyright image of Axl Rose. Please be advised that no permission has been granted to publish the copyright image so we cannot direct you to an authorized example of it.

The permission question comes from the belief that any photographer authorized to take photos at a Guns N Roses concert would have signed a Photography Permission Contract, which both specify how the photo can be used, and also transfers copyright ownership of the photos to Axl Rose, or more specifically his service companies. For his part, Minkevich does not recall signing any such document, though 2010 was quite some time ago. I know I don’t always remember things that I did six days ago, let alone six years ago.

Any possible legal wranglings will work themselves out, though for the current situation, Google has not yet complied with the take down request. It is entirely possible that the photos will ultimately be taken down, but not necessarily to Axl’s liking. If research finds that the copyright does belong to the Winnipeg Free Press (which is entirely possible) they could still ask for the photos to be taken down.

Have you seen any Axl Rose memes out in the wild? Do you expect to see more of them now that there are requests to have them taken down? Tell us what you think in the comments below, or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.

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